There’s been such a meteoric rise in mental illnesses and physical disease of all kinds in the past fifty years.

The rise in mental issues could also be a good sign. Given that we are living in a sick society, it would be scary if people had no mental issues, you know, like being OK with the state of the world. I think it was Hillman that commented on the irony that therapists are required to fix their patients' issues so they can be happy, and fit in a sick society.
Even if we avoid the news as much as possible, we know about the genocide in Gaza and somehow we manage to go about our day as if nothing was happening. Being witness to that horror is a trauma and we react like trauma victims by dissociating and trying to protect what's left of us.